


The Fall of Edelgard von Hresvelg

by bethany81707



Series: Stories of Garreg Mach [24]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, F/M, Flash Fic, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Start Of Darkness, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:41:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24868531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethany81707/pseuds/bethany81707
Summary: Edelgard receives somewhat comforting words from the only ally she has left, trying desperately to recover quickly from the pain of losing her family so she can seize leverage against her oppressors before they cut off those avenues.
Relationships: Hubert von Vestra/Edelgard's Sister
Series: Stories of Garreg Mach [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552720
Kudos: 6





	The Fall of Edelgard von Hresvelg

Edelgard wasn’t so much sitting in wait as she was curled up, lying on two chairs pushed together. She really didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be at home, curled up under her blankets and hugging her beloved Fluffykins. No matter how much the maid reminded her her home wasn’t hers anymore, there was no stopping the pangs. If she just got to sleep in her own bed again, everything would be all right. Adelheid and Magdalene would wake her up and they’d all go to learn something from… Edelgard couldn’t remember her tutor’s name. There was so much she couldn’t remember. She couldn’t remember what any of her other siblings looked like. She owned a dagger, the blade had pressed against her skin as she huddled in her cold cell, but she had no idea who had given it to her, or why she didn’t want to let go of it.

“Lady Edelgard…” Hubert’s voice said. Edelgard looked up, seeing Hubert looming over her, wearing a black cloak. She turned away, pain searing up in her limbs. A hand brushed against her bare arm, cold as ice, and Edelgard screamed. Her torture had ended, she had lost everything, anything but more pain and suffering. Her father couldn’t even sit up in his bed, her mother went missing from Faerghus, her siblings were all dead or insane… what else was there to take?

“I know it hurts, but it has been a week already,” Hubert said. Trust Hubert. Edelgard remembered that much. Was it Magdalene? It sounded like something Magdalene would say. It was easy for her- Hubert was her retainer, her crush. As far as Edelgard could remember, he was the kinda creepy guy who was the fourth player in board games she would play with her sisters. He was cunning, and he wouldn’t hold back. Edelgard remembered not liking him very much at all, but she couldn’t remember ever complaining. Was there something she was missing?

“...I must admit, I had never imagined the day I would see you cry. You were too innocent even for me. I hate what I have to do as much as you do, but it has to be done,” Hubert said. Innocent. Edelgard wanted to ask what she was like. It felt like years had passed since then. But she would never be like that again… not after what she had been through.

“Are you waiting for time to heal your wounds, Edelgard? Or have you lost the will to carry on?” Hubert asked. The will to carry on… to live, when everyone she had ever cared about would never get that chance?

“I’d be better off dead. Make them pay for what they did to me. What they did to everyone,” Edelgard cried.

“And let them die in vain? Lady Edelgard, if you do not act at all, you will be condemning some other family to go through that,” Hubert said. Those sorcerers… they had done this before. They could do it again. They  _ would _ do it again… wouldn’t they?

“Only you can truly understand your own sadness. I can empathise, of course. I was forced to watch as my liege… my girlfriend… was torn apart. Five rooms down the hall is what’s left of her, and there really isn’t that much of a difference between her and a corpse. But she’s your sister. She’s the person you trusted the most. Adelheid, too. And even your father. There is no way I would know what it’s like to lose everyone you ever loved all at once just so you could become a weapon of mass destruction. But I have no intention of standing here, crying for you, when there is work to be done. We must act quickly now- already rumours are spreading across the country about you,” Hubert said. Acting quickly… rumours… Edelgard felt the faintest twinge of a memory. Something…

“Whichever one of us lives, we’ve got to act fast. We’ve got to reclaim our lives before those bastards crush them completely. Or else we’ll be nothing but their pawn, doing whatever they say.”

Magdalene… even after everything she had gone through, even knowing there was more to go through until she was lost, or forced to watch her precious little sister be broken… Magdalene was thinking about what would happen afterwards.

“...I’ve got to kill those bastards,” Edelgard muttered, rising to her feet and feeling the dagger come into her hand.

“Unfortunately, Lady Edelgard, that is easier said than done. Your army is assembled in this room,” Hubert said. Edelgard looked around, noticing it was empty but for the retainer in front of her.

“We need to pool resources. We need to get Adrestians back on our side. We need to ask for help from the Church and-” Hubert began.

“The Church… Seiros. Where was she, Hubert? Where was our salvation?” Edelgard asked. Hubert did not have an answer, but not for the lack of trying. He didn’t have many fresh reports to read as they came in, but he had asked his father, over and over, why no one was so much as investigating what happened to the royal family.

“They trust Adrestia can handle it.”

Hubert knew exactly how long the Hresvelgs had been captive. He hadn’t counted the days himself, but the Vestras carefully dated their work. It had taken five years to break Magdalene and infuse Edelgard with the Crest of Flames. There was no doubt Seiros believed they had perfectly good reason not to investigate more closely. But for a construct that preached goodness coming to those who needed it…

“They never came,” Hubert said. Edelgard’s head sunk, and tears fell to the tile underneath her. Hubert allowed her the five minutes she needed to stem the flow.

“Then they won’t come to our aid now. Especially not with this infernal Crest I am now forced to bear. We must find our allies elsewhere…” Edelgard sighed. There wasn’t exactly a choice...


End file.
